Spain, Portugal Urge EU Effort on Power Link After Blackout
A police officer directs disrupted traffic as traffic lights stopped working during a power outage in Barcelona, Spain, on April 28.
Photographer: Angel Garcia/BloombergSpain and Portugal have called on the European Union to accelerate the completion of a cross-border power connection with the Iberian Peninsula after a recent blackout highlighted risks for the region’s electricity supply.
A planned interconnector with France must be “urgently completed,” Spanish Energy Minister Sara Aagesen Munoz and her Portuguese counterpart Maria da Graca Carvalho wrote in a letter to EU energy chief Dan Jorgensen. The link operates at just 3% capacity, well below its planned 15% target for 2030, posing a systemic risk to the overall European energy system, they said.